Make a newspaper bag

Recycle old newspapers into brilliant bags.

What you need:

2 sheets of newspaper approximately 60 cm by 40 cm

Glue

Two strips of card 20 cm x 1.5 cm

Two pieces of string or ribbon 30cm

Instructions:

Step 1Place the sheets of paper on top of each other and glue them together along one long edge. If you have a larger newspaper where the sheets are 80 cm by 60 cm you can fold it in half and skip to step 2.

Step 2Fold over the glued edge to a depth of 4 cm, this fold line with then act as a guide. Glue your first piece of card 3cm in from the left level along the fold line. Measure 8 cm from the right end of the first strip and glue the second piece of card along the fold line. Along the fold line you should have a gap of 3 cm your first strip of card then a gap of 8 cm and then your second piece of card.

Step 3Glue the top 4 cm folded section including your two pieces of card that you have stuck on. Then fold this edge down.

Step 4With your glued fold at the top fold in the left edge (A) where the end of your first piece of card ends. This should be about 23 cm. Then fold the right edge (B) in up to the end of your second strip of card. This side should be shorter and the two edges should now slightly overlap.

Step 5You now need to sandwich the edges together and glue them together. Open the two sheets of paper at edge B place edge A inside. Carefully glue either side of edge A and stick it to the inside of edge B where it overlaps.

Step 6Open the bag out and make a fold on the other side of the bag to make a rectangular shape. This fold should be level with the other edge of card.

Step 7Now you need to make some side pleats. Fold the short edge inwards so corner A touches corner A and corner B touches corner B. Press down along the new fold. Now do this on the other side.

Step 8Place your bag flat. Make a fold 6 cm from the bottom edge (the card should be at the top!). Make sure this fold is really firm so that you can still see it when it is unfolded.

Step 9Fold in the edge sections to the 6 cm fold. You should make little triangles, stick these down. Now fold in the two flaps and glue together. Make sure all the touching pieces of paper at the bottom are glued together well otherwise things might drop out of the bottom of your bag.

Step 10 Using a hole punch make two holes on each top edge of the bag and thread your handles through. Tie the ends together on each handle so that it is secure.

Now you have finished why not customise your bag, you could use paint, or make flowers from tissue paper to glue on. I’ve used my fingers to paint ladybirds on mine, try using coloured ribbon to match your design.

comments

You can get Chinese newspapers from the Chinese supermarket on the Dock Road in Liverpool and Arabic ones from certain newsagents in inner city Manchester. These should make for some really nice gift ideas (You can also use foreign newspaper as wrapping paper)